Mexican national's murder trial shifted to St. Louis

ST. LOUIS — A judge has granted a venue change for a Mexican national accused of killing a Missouri man and four others in Kansas, ordering the Missouri trial to be held in St. Louis.

A judge in mid-Missouri’s Montgomery County signed off Thursday on the venue change for 40-year-old Pablo Serrano-Vitorino.

Serrano-Vitorino is charged in Missouri with first-degree murder in the March 8 shooting death of Randy Nordman in New Florence. Missouri prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case, and Serrano-Vitorina has pleaded not guilty.

Serrano-Vitorino also is charged in Kansas with four first-degree murder counts related to the March 7 shooting deaths of a Kansas City, Kansas, neighbor and three other men at the neighbor’s home.